Cardiff School of Social Sciences

Research Interests

Current and future research interests and projects

Dr Noaks’ work is interdisciplinary which is reflected in her appointment as a lecturer in Criminology and Social Work. Throughout her academic career Policing has been a major strand of her research interest.  This culminated in  PhD research undertaken in the period 1996-2000. The focus of this  doctoral research was the movement in England and Wales towards privatisation of security and the impact of such developments on citizen’s perception of risk. The research explores the extent to which commodification of security represents a fundamental shift in residents’ experience of social control. This work has been successfully disseminated through international publications (see projects) and conferences. It is regarded as an important piece of work that addresses a key ‘knowledge gap’ in citizen’s experience of plural policing.

The other major strand of her research has been a focus on children and young people’s interconnection with the criminal justice process. Drawing on her professional experience Dr Noaks was a founder member of the Family Law Research Group at Cardiff, a multi-disciplinary group including law, sociology, psychology and health which undertook funded research on a broad spectrum of issues relating to children and the family.  Dissemination of the activities of this group included publications and organisation of conferences and workshops for practitioners. Contribution to public understanding of the subject area has included her  organising a multi-disciplinary conference on “The Investigation of Child Sexual Abuse-Impact on  Children and Families”. This led on to her being commissioned by a local authority to run a conference for their staff on “High Risk Factors in Child Protection”. Dr Noaks  has also engaged in international dissemination of this body of work. She has presented papers on juvenile justice at the American Criminology conference and attended a United Nations Conference in Kuwait as a keynote speaker on juvenile justice issues. In 2005 she presented a paper at a Childhood conference in Oslo on Defusing Children’s Violent Behaviours. The UN Commission on Violence subsequently included an account of the work in their seminal report. Her recognised expertise in this area also led to her appointment to lead a regional evaluation team in the government’s On Track Project. On Track was funded under the Crime Prevention Initiative and was concerned with interventions for 4-12 year olds. Like most of her research the evaluation has informed a series of official reports and academic publications (see projects tab). In recent years her research interests in criminology and childhood have become increasingly interconnected, in part reflecting increased State intervention in family life.